Beer aged in Van Winkle barrels

One of the local craft beer brewers, Hoppin Frog, will be releasing B.O.R.I.S Van Wink on black Friday along with their barrel aged xmas ale. Both beers have been aging in former Van Winkle barrels (I don't know how old these barrels are) and should go well with their beer. They are always well ranked on Beer Advocate (Currently 17th best brewery in the world according to Rate Beer) so I hope its tastey.

Re: Beer aged in Van Winkle barrels

I don't see how a used Bourbon barrel from Buffalo Trace would age beer any differently than one from, say, Brown-Forman, but I can see how the Van Winkle association would have some commercial value. Is he really going to put Van Wink on the label?

Re: Beer aged in Van Winkle barrels

Maybe, but Van Winkle barrels tend to have been sitting filled with whiskey for longer so there's less wood tannin and less sugar (generally) than younger barrels. This means the beer can generally be aged longer in the wood without over oaking. Also, as we know from Devil's Cut, there's still a lot of whiskey left in the wood. So the better the whiskey you put in the beer, the better the beer will taste. In many barrel aged beers, the bourbon flavors are very pronounced

Re: Beer aged in Van Winkle barrels

At $30 a pop it's a tough test to tackle, but the Fifty-Fifty Eclipse BBA stout that comes out once a year demonstrates the difference a particular barrel can make. Each year, the stout is aged in a range of different barrels, then bottled and waxed to indicate which brand of whiskey barrel a particular bottle came from. (I'm exhausted and probably not explaining this very well.) Anyway, here's one blogger's review of the most recent batch of Eclipse releases....

ETA: Of course, you were solely talking wheaters, while the blogger reviewed beers aged in barrels from two wheaters, a rye bourbon, a rye whiskey and a wheat whiskey....

Re: Beer aged in Van Winkle barrels

Originally Posted by squire

I don't see how a used Bourbon barrel from Buffalo Trace would age beer any differently than one from, say, Brown-Forman, but I can see how the Van Winkle association would have some commercial value. Is he really going to put Van Wink on the label?

Re: Beer aged in Van Winkle barrels

Intriguing -- thx for the heads-up, TiO. I'll be up in Cuyahoga County visiting fam in just a few weeks and will keep eyes peeled for it to at least kick the tires. That'll give my trips to the State Stores more purpose this time around (b/c OYO Bourbon just doesn't do it).